New Delhi: Released on bail from Tihar Jail, JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a celebratory speech at the campus.
"I have many differences with the Prime Minister but I agree with his tweet Satyamev Jayate," Kanhaiya said.
The tweet, incidentally, was the one in which Modi lauded HRD minister Smriti Irani's speech defending the Centre's stand in the sedition case against Kanhaiya and other JNU students.
"I am not asking for freedom from India, but freedom in India," Kanhaiya said in reference to allegations that he raised anti-India slogans at a campus event in memory of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
In a fiery speech which lasted over 30 minutes Kanhaiya took potshots at the Centre and the RSS while narrating his experience in custody.
"I come from a village where there are magic shows. People show magic and sell rings that they say fulfill all wishes. We have some people like that in the country who say things like development for all." he said.
And then to laughter from the crowd he added, "We Indians forget too soon but this time the drama is too big and these joomlas ( gimmicks) won’t be forgotten."
Indirectly referring to the videos used to incriminate him he said , "If you speak against the government then their cyber cell will send your doctored videos and count the number of condoms in your hostel."
Taking a jibe at MPs, Kanhaiya said, "My special thanks to the parliamentarians for deciding what is right and what is wrong and to their police as well."
Kanhaiya was arrested after an FIR was filed following complaints by BJP MP Maheish Girri and ABVP students over an event to protest the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. He was booked for sedition and spent nearly three weeks in custody.
He was released on Thursday after the Delhi High Court granted him interim bail for six months with a warning that he should not actively or passively participate in any event that can be termed anti-national.
The JNUSU president said he held no grudge against the ABVP as he believed in democracy. "Friends we will not witch-hunt you. Because one who is to be hunted needs to be worthy of a chase," he quipped.
Kanhaiya reiterated he has full faith in the judiciary and the Constitution and that he won't say comment on anything in the case that is subjudice.
Calling the attack on JNU an organised one, Kanhaiya it was done to delegitimise the UGC protests and to prevent justice to Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula.
"The more you try to suppress us, the more we rise," he said before concluding his speech and breaking into JNU's signature 'azaadi' chant against poverty, casteism and communalism.
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